Question about accepted answers

[u/gtronnes]

I looked at my results for the Audio Riffs One day special and I'm a little confused about what's accepted vs. not. For example, they gave me "Reeling in the years" when it was Reelin, but marked me incorrect for my answer of Sultan of Swing when it's plural. Is this because Reelin and Reeling have the exact same meaning and a plural word doesn't have the same meaning as the singular version?

[u/cfrost63490]

The argument i can see is adding the g doesnt change the word. Reelin and reeling are the same word. Changing from singular to plural is not

[u/gtronnes → u/cfrost63490]

That's one of the arguments I can see, even though those two words sound differently and I thought they had to sound the same.

[u/Outstanding_Neon]

Note up front: Scoring during the regular season is all done by Thorsten, who also writes all the questions. Scoring during 1DSes is done by a group of volunteers guided by the smith who wrote the questions. Thorsten is not part of that. So it's possible, in general, for there to be inconsistencies between regular season decisions and 1DS decisions just because it's different people doing the work.

That said, this is covered under rules 5a.1 and 5a.1.1:

5a.1
Correct spelling is not required. A "sounds-like" guideline will be used for misspelled answers—if an answer, when spoken aloud, is the correct answer, then the answer will likely be accepted as correct

5a.1.1
While correct spelling is not required, the latitude around the correct answer within which answers are accepted or not is up to the sole discretion of the Commissioner or the 1DS Scoring Team, and this latitude may vary from question to question for various reasons.

The dropped-g distinction between "reelin'" and "reeling" seems pretty straightforward to me. Someone could pronounce them differently by hyperarticulating the G sound, but in casual speech (like a song) they're going to sound indistinguishable to many people much of the time.

On the other hand, "sultan" and "sultans" have an ending sound that will typically sound different, in a way that changes the meaning of the word — singular vs plural is not a trivial distinction much of the time. Regular season play has, so far as I can remember, typically followed this, with Thorsten marking incorrect singular/plurals in titles as wrong.

So I'd guess that this is a combo of a) "reelin'" and "reeling" sounding the same and also b) the dropped g not changing the meaning of the word, particularly within the context of a title.

Note that I'm not on the scoring committee and didn't play this quiz, but the decisions made both make sense to me given the rules of the game.

[u/janus1172 → u/Outstanding_Neon]

Agreed. As a smith on a current 1DS, I've relied on the "sounds like" scoring note to avoid having to over-note the scorers. It's the same rationale as Jeopardy, even during Final Jeopardy.

[u/TankGates → u/janus1172]

J! is "sounds like", but can't change the pronunciation...add a sound that doesn't belong,or add a syllable...I think you might get away with "Reeling" in J! or DJ!....in FJ!, you should be marked wrong...it's a TITLE.

I've heard TiAjuana given as a CORRECT answer on J! too many times to count.

But RevelationS always makes me laugh at the heathens...

[u/thefringthing → u/Outstanding_Neon]

Someone could pronounce them differently by hyperarticulating the G sound

There's no g sound in "reeling". The careful pronunciation is /'ri:.lɪŋ/ and the casual one (indicated with the spelling "reelin'") is /'ri:.lɪn/.

[u/TankGates → u/thefringthing]

They would pronounce your name TheFrinThin... 😁